Odometer



July 8. 1924. 1,500,979

T. D. ADAIR. JR

ODONETER Filed Nov. 16. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 8. 1924.

T. D. ADAIR, JR-

ODOME TER- Filed Nov. 16. 1922 2 Shu'ta-Sheet 2 Patented July 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,500,979 PATENT orrics.

THOMAS DONALD ABATE, JR DORCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR'TO STANDARD THERMOMETER- COMPANY, OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, A COR- PORATION' OF MAINE.

ODOMET'ER.

Application filed November 16, 1922. Serial No. 601,287.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS DONALD ADAIR, Jr, av citizen of the United States. residing at Dorchester, in the county of Suifolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Odometers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de scription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to an improvement in odometers of the total trip mileage typeand of the kind employed for use on automobiles.

The object of the invention is to. reorganizeand improve the construction particularly with respect to legibility. To the above end the invention consists in the odometer hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention, Fig. 1 is a face view of the odometer; Fig. 2 is a similar view with the dial plate removed; Fig. 3 is a section parallel to the dial plate taken below the counting element dials; Fig. 4 is a section on the line ll, Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 5 is adetail of the resetting mechanism.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is described as follows: Theo'dometer casing is provided with a flange by which it is secured to the instrument board, and exhibits the dial 11 having a total mileage in.

dicator at 12 and a trip mileage indicator at 13. The resetting wheel 14 is conveniently arranged near the odometer face.

The/odometer comprises a total mileage train indicated in a general way by the reference character 15, which comprises tenths, units, tens, hundreds and thousands elements. The tenths element 16 is provided with a ratchet wheel 21 adapted to be engaged by the pawl 22 driven in a suitable manner. The tenths element also carries a dog 23 for actuating the units element. A locking pawl 24 holds the tenths element from reverse movement. The units element 17 is provided with a star wheel 25, which is engaged by the dog of the tenths element, and at each revolution of the latter advance one place. This element in turn is provided with a dog for actuating the star wheel of the hundreds element. The tens and hundreds elements 18 and 19 are like the units element, but the thousands element is not provided with the dog. The units, tens, hundreds and thousands elements are held from accidental movement by spring actuated detent levers.

The trip mileage train comprises a trip mileage units element which is provided with a transmission gear 31, a star gear 82 and a dog 33. The tens element 85 of the trip mileage train is provided with the star wheel 36 which is actuated by the dog of the units element. The detent levers 410 and ll engage the star wheels 32 and 36 of the units and tens elements of the trip mileage train, and hold them from accidental movement.

The trip mileage train 15 is actuated by means of an intermediate connecting element 50, which is provided with a transmission gear 51 and a star gear 52. This element is so located with reference to the tenths element of the total mileage train that the dog 23 engages and actuates the intermediate connecting element by engaging the teeth of the star wheel 52. At each rotation of the tenths element of the total mileage train the intermediate connecting element is advanced one step. It therefore has rotative movement. corresponding to that of the units element, and the transmission gears 51 and 31 are made of the same size so that the units element of the trip mileage train is advanced at units speed and indicates units. The intermediate connecting element is further provided with a. pinion which meshes with the crown gear 61 mounted on the shaft 62, which carries the pinion 63 adapted to be engaged by the reset crown pinion 64-, mounted on the shaft 65, normally supported out of engagement with the pinion 63 by means of the spring 66. The knurled head 67 or" the shaft 65 affords convenient means for resetting the-mechanism by pressing down on the head 67 and causing the crown gear 6 1- to engage with the pinion 63, whereby the trip mileage train may be reset.

It might sometimes happen that the reset of the trip mileage train would be attempted when the dog 23 of the total mileage train was in engagement with the star wheel 52 of the intermediate connecting element. The attempt on the part of the op erator under such circumstances to turn the intermediate connecting element backward would be impossible, because the pawl 24 would prevent the turning of the tenths elereset by turning it forwardly until the trip.

mileage indicated zero. Or the reset could be accomplished by first turning the intermediate connecting element forward sutficiently to disengage the dog 23 from the star Wheel 52, whereupon the intermediate connecting element might be turned in the reverse direction to reset the trip mileage figures because the dog 23 of the tenths element would no longer be engaged by the teeth of the star wheel 52. The error introduced into the total mileage figures by this movement of the tenths element would, in the aggregate, be an exceedingly small amount. Theoretically the chances that the dog 23 of the tenths element would bein engagement with the star wheel 52 would be onlyjone in ten. Consequently, theoretically the tenth of a mile added to the total mileage figures due to resetting would be added only once for each ten times of resetting. If it were assumed that the instrument were reset two hundred times a year, there would be only twenty out of those times wherein the tenth of a mile would be added, so that the total yearly error would not amount to two miles.

The applicant is aware of the patent to Abell, No. 1,265,023,- wherein the trip mileage is indicated by a trip ring actuated from the tenths element of the total mileage train through the means of the tenths element dog which en ages a gear carrying a pinion which in turn engages the gear cut on the trip ring.

The present construction has a number of distinct advantages over said patent. In the first place legibility is enhanced. It would unduly increase the size of the patented odometer to make the ring wide enough to bear figures of the size corresponding to those of the total mileage indication.

In the second place, the practice has grown up of making a trip mileage indication through an opening in the dial located in'the body of the dial, and persons using odometers have got in'the habit of looking for the trip mileage through such an opening in thedial. This habit must be ments, whereas in the patented construction the rotative movement of the trip ring is in efiect a sliding motion with respect to the supports for the ring, and the liability of binding or cramping the ring in its supports is always present.

A further advantage flows from the fact that the tens element of the trip mileage train may be identical with the highest element of the total mileage train. This simplifies the construction.

Furthemore, no detent is necessary for use on the intermediate connecting element because the transmission gears bein in mesh, the detent device for the units element con trols the intermediate connecting element through the gears.

Another feature of the present construction resides in the fact that the cost of the instrument is reduced by the simplicity of its construction, and because of the number of parts which may be used in diflerent places in the instrument. Thus, all the star wheels may be made alike, all the detent levers may be made alike, and other obvious features of economy practiced in the manutacture.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

An odometer having, in combination, a total mileage train consisting of a tenths .element provided with a higher element driving dog and a plurality of higher elements driven therefrom, a trip mileage train consisting of a units element provided with a transmission gear and star gear, a higher element driven therefrom, an intermediate connecting element provided with a transmission gear and star gear, the former meshing with the transmission gear of the trip mileage units element, and the latter being arranged to be operated by the dog of the total mileage tenths element, and means for actuating the total mileage tenths element.

T. DONALD ADAIR, J R. 

